A wizard s trial
by snapeophil
Summary: Hermione is out after curfew when she witnesses something that will change her relationship to her DADA professor forever.
1. Chapter 1

**A wizard´s trial**

By _**snapeophil**_

**Disclaimer: **

**Making no money, thanking JKR for allowing us fans to play with her brilliant characters…the usual… **

**A/N: **

**This is my first HP-fanfic and it is un-beta-ed. So please put forth constructive criticism and helpful advice rather than flames. Furthermore, English isn´t my first language. Repeated disregard for grammatical rules, extended torture of idiomatic expressions and mutilated bits of British and American English may lie ahead, be warned! **

**Please note that this story is set during the Trio´s sixth year and that Hermione Granger is of age in the WW. Yes, that is relevant, because the story is rated M for good reason (later on). This story is planned as a 3-4 chapter story at the most. The first chapter pretty much gives us a set-up for the story and impressions of how Hermione perceives our dear Potions master. I promise we´ll get to the action in chapter 2.**

**Chapter one- A once in a time opportunity**

Hermione Granger usually was not prone to rule-breaking.

Yes, there had been circumstances that had made it necessary to interpret certain aspects of those rules a little more freely. Surely anyone would recognise those decisions for what they were, though, wouldn´t they? They had been absolutely necessary and completely understandable at the given time. Yes, necessary and understandable. So, if she would be caught tonight surely whoever confronted her could be talked to, reasonably. She would calmly explain her regretfully necessary disregard for curfew and then they would discuss this like adults. Certainly she would be able to convince her teacher to let her continue. _If it isn´t _him_, at least. _

She was full of unquenchable anticipation. Ever since the moment she had read about the ritual she had been fascinated. Her thirst for knowledge and her unstoppable enthusiasm for new experiences had very quickly changed into an idée fixe. She needed to see it herself and tonight of all nights was the one and only opportunity. The election of a mermaid chieftain only happened once in a century and even with the longevity of witches and wizards Hermione had no guarantee that she would be given another chance. She simply had to be there tonight! Just imagine the wonders she would be witnessing, the lights the music – well underwater, of course. She had no wish to repeat the dreadful moment when Seamus had made Harry open the egg during the Triwizard Tournament. To think that such screeching and wailing could be the sweetest and purest melody when released underwater. She had, of course, revised the bubble-head-charm and other useful spells. The Black Lake wasn´t exactly a cosy environment at its best of times. And, Hermione shuddered, it was already starting to be really cold outside. Oh, but it was so worth it.

Hermione giddily hurried down the stairs, Harry´s cloak of Invisibility tightly wrapped around her. The Fat Lady had been somewhat confused when the portrait had opened seemingly of its own accord, but seemed to have dismissed it when nothing else had happened. Hermione had to catch the right moment at the main entrance. She was well prepared. It was common knowledge that Professor Slughorn had a certain affinity for late night visits to the "Three Broomsticks". All she would have to do was to wait there and slip out before he resealed the massive front door. Hermione tried to reassure herself for the hundredth time this night. Everything would be fine, Slughorn would be coming and he wouldn´t catch her and she would be able to get to the Black Lake on time.

Hermione startled when a shadow danced in the torch-lights and vanished as quickly as it had come. _Damn Harry for being so obstinate. _Her friend was so obsessed with finding out about Malfoy´s imagined illicit activities that he had refused to lend her the Marauders´ Map for even one evening- which meant that she had to sneak through Hogwarts castle under his stupid cloak and jump at every shadow like a frightened first-year, honestly. Hermione slowed down and silently stepped away from the stairs. She tiptoed to the right side of the main entrance and crouched down behind one of the statues. Now she would wait for Professor Slughorn.

She felt slightly guilty for using him like this. Then again she had some difficulties keeping up the usual 100% of respect for this teacher what with the way he handled Harry´s obvious cheating in class. She had often enough been the target of Snape´s harsh words and unfair treatment, but she had to admit to herself that he was a far better teacher than Slughorn. Why, just yesterday Seamus had melted and exploded a total of three cauldrons in just one lesson. Professor Snape would have put an end to it after the first. He would have made him see what had gone wrong and thereby actually achieve something. Their current Potions teacher had just laughed it off and told them about some very important connections he had to this maker of fine cauldrons and that specialist in pyro-magics.

Now that she thought about Professor Snape she suddenly realised that she hadn´t seen him at supper in the Great Hall. That was unusual. Normally the staff attended the meals. Worst case meant that he had been summoned. Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her crouched position. She sincerely hoped that the Professor would come back unharmed. Through the last year she had thought a lot about their misanthropic DADA teacher.

Harry´s constant nagging about how he couldn´t be trusted and how the dungeon bat deceived them all had driven her mad and so she had finally decided to approach her friend´s mistrust issues like she did everything else- with cool intellect. She had started an extensive collection of 'evidence' on the Order´s spy. She had summarised what all of them had experienced with him, not emotionally, but based on facts. She had added snippets she had overheard from other students or order members. She had even gone so far as to look him up in the Library. She hadn´t been particularly surprised to find out that his exam results were equal to hers. His nearly anankastic approach to brewing and everything else, mixed with a generally uncompromising concentration and nearly frightening intensity clearly marked him as a fierce learner, and teacher. What had really left her staring open-mouthed, however, was the extent of research and publications as a Potions Master she had found referenced. Like all students she hadn´t thought about her former Potions teacher as a private person with interests and a life outside of school before. She had been deeply impressed by his work.

Ever since she had had that kind of diffuse feeling that dreaded Professor Snape was more than met the eye on a profound basis. Somehow the world seemed to choose a rather black and white view where the Slytherin Head was concerned. It always came down to good or bad, Order Member or Death Eater, Spy or Traitor and so on. As if the man himself was one-dimensional and if you got the final, definite answer as to his true loyalty you comprehended and maybe even controlled what and who he was. Hermione hadn´t been any better, she had had to admit grudgingly. She, too, had only been concerned with finding evidence for or against Harry´s theory. It seemed so immature now. Certainly, it was important to think about who to trust and who to be wary with. However, with most people you´d try to get to know them in order to judge. With Snape no one wanted to get to know the man, just ascertain that he posed no threat. And therein, so she thought, lay the fundamental problem.

Severus Snape was anything but one-dimensional. You just couldn´t 'get him' by employing crude methods and taking everything he said and did at face value. He was the Head of _Slytherin _House for God´s sake! It was well and truly amazing that nobody else had caught on. It was so simple really. You just had to stop antagonizing him for long enough to pose one question: 'What is he _really_ trying to achieve with what he´s doing right now?' Hermione thought that she had finally understood what made her sour professor such a brilliant spy. He somehow managed to project such archaic images of himself that others stopped looking for the real human being behind the act. He had perfected the art of staying completely anonymous behind an outer facade that all too easily misled others into a sense of knowing just 'what kind of guy that man' was. Everyone was so occupied with analysing his outer shell that he stayed free and in control behind it. Thus he could secretly protect Gryffindors while openly doing everything in his power to embarrass and humiliate them or openly favour Slytherins while secretly nudging them to think for themselves or giving them no practical help at all. It was rather beautifully executed once you looked at it as a masterfully set play on stage.

Hermione was fascinated and intrigued. A dangerous combination with her as it meant that she wouldn´t be able to let it go. Hermione Granger desperately wanted to get to know Severus Snape, worse, she felt entitled to it as she was the one who had 'figured it out'. The problem was that she was quite certain that the subject of her earth-shattering revelations didn´t share her wish in the slightest. Draco Malfoy would take part in a Muggle, female synchronised swimming contest before Severus Snape ever expressed even the tiniest bit of interest in the bushy-haired Gryffindor Know-it-all. That was a fact.

The young witch was roused from her contemplations when footsteps quickly approached her hiding place. It was Professor Slughorn, just as expected. He was wearing a cloak against the cold and some sort of cap with furry ear-pieces. Something in his pockets made clinking noises. The Potions teacher patted his cloak and hurriedly looked around before he visibly relaxed and muttered some kind of password. The great doors swung open. Hermione had stepped from her hiding place. As soon as the doors moved she threw a harmless hex at one of the armours lining the wall. The rattling sound distracted her professor long enough for her to slip through the crack without him noticing.

_I made it! I am out of the school. _It was exhilarating. She had never been out here at this hour before. It was dawn and the horizon was painted a beautiful golden and red hue. Hermione wrapped the cloak firmly around herself. It really was rather cold. However, she was determined and she would not be deterred. She waited until Slughorn had vanished into the direction of Hogsmeade, then she set off on her way. The book had been very specific about the place of the mermaids´ assembly and she didn´t want to have to swim through the whole Lake to get there. Unfortunately the shortest path to her goal started at a spot just outside of the Hogwarts Grounds and therefore its shield. It took her about half an hour to reach her destination. The small bay was lined by trees and bushes on one side and opened to a wide meadow on the other. Two minutes ago she had felt a small tingle when she had left the protective enchantments of Hogwarts School. She was truly on her own now.

She chose a spot where she could hide her clothes and the cloak in a thicket. She gingerly stepped behind the green screen and pulled off the cloak. Then she stripped down to the black bathing suit she was wearing underneath her uniform. Goosebumps were spreading all over her body and she started shivering. She quickly used a warming spell on her suit. That would last at least half an hour then it would have to be renewed. Her arms and legs would stay cold like this but she had wanted to have the best mobility underwater, therefore she had decided against long underpants or gloves. She transfigured her socks into a pair of flippers. Hermione bundled her clothes up and pushed them under several branches. She laid the cloak over it. Any evidence of someone being there was completely concealed, perfect.

She picked up the flippers and walked to the edge of the lake. She tested the water with her toe. It was cold, but not yet icy. The young Gryffindor sat down on the ledge, braided her unmanageable hair into as tight a ponytail as possible and slipped on the flippers. It was still light enough to see the ground of the lake from her position. She had chosen it for its comparatively gentle slope. Five meters in the ground level reached about 20 feet. This far in only dimly shapes of plants and stones were still visible.

Hermione slid of the edge. The water lapped at her body and it took some time to adjust to the cold. The water was reaching up to her chin so she could still breathe freely. She took out her wand and applied the bubble-head charm. That would last for approximately one hour. After that she would have to resurface and renew the charm. Well, it had worked for Cedric, hadn´t it? On her left arm she wore a metallic wand-holder. _Better safe than sorry_. It wouldn´t do to lose her wand in the hidden depths of the Black Lake. She fastened the wand and experimentally dived underwater. She could breathe alright, however she couldn´t see very clearly. The Black Lake was abundantly covered with vegetation and the shadows made it hard to see anything in the poor light. Hermione resurfaced and hobbled over to the ledge. She rather felt like a duck with the flippers hampering her progress. She picked up a stone and transfigured it into a pair of goggles. She decided to light her wand until she found the assembly of mermaids. There would be many beautiful illuminations at the gathering according to the ritual she had read about in the book. She took another experimental dip and was satisfied.

She was just about to dive in earnest when the explosive sounds of several apparations split the silence. Instinctively Hermione glided through the water and nestled hastily against the grassy ledge hiding behind some branches that hung over it. Through the sparse leaves she could make out four figures that approached the Black Lake at an uncomfortably small distance.

Three of them were wearing heavy black cloaks and silver masks. The fourth hung limply between the Death Eaters, his hands bound behind him. Hermione watched in shock as a bloodied and obviously unconscious Professor Snape was dragged to the very edge of the Lake and unceremoniously dumped there.

"Well, let´s have some fun, shall we?"

Derisive laughter followed these words. One of the men bowed down and took out his wand. Hermione tensed in her hiding spot.

"_Ennervate_!"

The man on the ground came alive with a gasp, but immediately fell quiet after that. The Order´s spy looked up at his captors contemptuously.

"Wakey, Wakey, Snapey!"

Another of the figures hunched down. A woman´s voice. The young witch shuddered. This voice was as cruel as it was obviously demented. There was only one Death Eater she knew to fit this description, Bellatrix Lestrange.

"So, Traitor, awake are we? Oh, I will have so much fun with you, you disgusting Muggle lover. I have thought about such a nice way for you to go. Do you wanna know? Yes? You´ll like it, I promise. You know I thought of this especially for you, Muggle-loving scum that you are."

Her voice had taken on a nearly unbearable cooing tone. She was simpering and spittle flew from her mouth. All the while she was stroking the Professor´s hair in a paradoxical gesture of affection. He merely jerked back his head and lifted his chin in defiance. He didn´t make a single noise.

"Oh, don´t be such a mood killer, Sevy. Come on, just ask me, do me this little favour, yes? Be a good boy and ask me. Ask me!"

The black-haired man didn´t move. Bellatrix spat him in the face and sprung up from the ground. Like the mad-woman she was she screeched and stomped her foot in a horrible imitation of a five-year old. Then she muttered something under her breath and turned once again to the man on the ground.

"Ask or you will regret it."

No reaction. Bellatrix shrugged and pointed her wand at the captive.

"Okaa-hhaaaay. _Crucio!_"

Severus Snape´s body thrashed on the ground uncontrollably. Hermione felt tears sting her eyes. No human being should be subjected to this, it was horrible and disgusting and demeaning. The grip on her wand tightened. She couldn´t let them do this to the professor. She needed to do something. She was frantically searching for a solution when one of the other Death Eater cancelled the spell.

"What? How dare you—"

"He is unconscious again. Besides, he won´t survive another bout of Cruciatus. We have already had our go with that, right? He´ll just die silently."

"How I hate him."

She kicked him hard, in the ribs and against his head. Then she once again lifted her wand.

"_Ennervate_! So, Snape, I am going to tell you what I am going to do with you. Listen up. Ever heard of the Inquisition? You see, those Muggles were out there to find and kill our kind. And how did they do this? They tested and murdered hundreds of women. Therefore I think it is only fitting that you will be tested, as well. You couldn´t be a real wizard, not after you have betrayed us like this. So, here´s the deal. Survive this and we acknowledge that you are a real wizard and will kill you as a Traitor. Die and you will be acknowledged as a Muggle and thus be declared innocent. Isn´t that wonderfully poetic?"

Bellatrix cackled gleefully and summoned a large rock from the bottom of the lake. She transformed part of it to a chain and wound that around the wizard´s ankles.

"So, that is your test: We will throw you in. If you surface again, you are a wizard and we will kill you. If you drown, well, that is self-explanatory, isn´t it? Since we have taken your wand it shouldn´t be necessary, but better safe than sorry, yes? We will use the _magicum revelio_ spell. We´ll know immediately if you try to cheat, any use of magic and we´ll kill you immediately, understood? Very well, here we go."

Hermione watched desperately as the mad witch levitated the bound Professor and the rock slowly over the glistening surface of the lake.

"_Magicum revelio_! Have a nice swim."

With that she terminated the spell and Severus Snape plummeted down and sank to the ground of the lake.


	2. Passing the test

**AN: Dear readers, thanks for the support so far. It´s encouraging to see how many of you are interested in following the story. I hope you´ll enjoy it. **

**I am very happy to say that I am going to have a beta-reader for this story, the brilliant JudithShakespeare. Since she is currently working on a very important project, she´ll join us later on. I am very grateful to her for offering her help and I know that my writing will improve under her watchful eyes ;-) So, this chappie is still un-betaed. However, I´ll give you the beta-ed versions later on. Just thought you´d be happy to read on.**

**Chapter two- Passing the test**

Hermione Granger´s first irrational thought was that the rock might have hit the professor´s head on the way down. Then she caught herself being hysteric. _He is about to drown, I don´t think he´d be opposed to doing it while unconscious. Get a grip on yourself!_

One thing was clear: she had to save him somehow. Normally she would have called for help first, but how should she do this now? She was far away from the school and any use of magic would immediately be registered by that damn spell. The Patronus charm was out of question. _Think, Hermione, think! _ She felt just like in first year when Ron had been about to be strangled and she had but a moment to come up with the right answer in order to save his life. Only today, she was in mortal danger, too. If she was caught, she´d be dead or worse would be brought to Voldemort.

_Ok, first things first. Check for danger. _She once again watched the Death Eaters through the branches of her hiding place. All three figures were currently standing on the ledge staring at the dimly visible black outline of the drowning man. Bellatrix was laughing and hopping up and down while chanting something that sounded suspiciously like a rhyme.

"Snapey, ol´ Snapey, he needed a bath, it was delivered real kindly by us. Hair never cleaner nor purer his hide, t´was such a shock he immediately died."

On and on it went. Hermione was quite certain that all of the Death Eaters were so focused on Professor Snape that it would be possible for her to dive deeper undetected. However, how should she get to him without them noticing? True he was only visible as a black patch, but certainly she would be seen, if she moved next to him? Furthermore she would have to go by mere gut instinct after diving as she wouldn´t be able to see what the captors were doing on land.

It didn´t matter, really. He needed oxygen and she was the only one who could provide it. Thank God that she had activated the bubble-head-charm before the Death Eaters had arrived. Hermione estimated that the professor had been underwater for at least fifteen seconds now.

_No time to think, act_.

One last glance, then Hermione slowly slid down, her back pressed against the muddy ledge. She descended until her knees touched the ground. She let herself fall forward and dived.

_Heaven help me. _

The young witch gained ground quickly with her flippers quietly moving up and down. After about 15 feet the ground level dropped significantly and she dared to accelerate her pace. She swam a wide circle to her right so that she was nearing the place where her professor was fighting for his life. The goggles helped even if she couldn´t see very far.

When she came closer to the struggling shadow of her teacher she discovered that a thick growth of seaweed was darkening the water just behind him. A lucky streak. The rippling vegetation would conceal most of her own movements. With a last prayer to heavens she dived behind the green screen and slowly inched closer and closer. Thirty seconds had passed. Still, she could see her professor continuing to move his hands. Just as she was right behind him he managed to free his hands and tried to loosen the chain around his ankles. His movements were becoming jerkier and more and more desperate. His front was facing the shore. With his hands unbound his cloak spread behind him like a bad imitation of wings. _It´s now or never. _

Hermione parted the seaweed and took hold of the cloak. She pulled. Slowly, slowly. Snape did not seem to register that he was being moved by something other than the waves and continued to struggle with the chain, his body doubled over. Damn, she needed him to turn around, now. She did the only thing she could think of to make him take notice. She pushed aside the cloak with one hand, while securing it with the other and then, absurdly blushing in this life-threatening situation, she pinched his behind, strongly. The effect was immediate. Severus Snape spun around and straightened, his face contorted in a mixture of fear and aggressiveness, his hands raised in a defensive position.

Without thinking Hermione grabbed the long row of buttons at his front, released the cloak at the same time and pulled him closer. All of this couldn´t have taken more than half a second, still his hands were circling her wrists in a painful grip and his black eyes bore into hers.

The young Gryffindor felt her heart stop beating. If her professor panicked now, they would be discovered. His first movement might be misinterpreted as desperation, but if he started fighting her in earnest, mistaking her perhaps for a Grindylow, the Death Eaters would surely notice that something was going on. She willed him with all her might to recognize her as a human being there to help him.

_Please, Professor, please!_

Something in his eyes changed. Surprise flitted across his features, before suddenly his eyes rolled up in his head and he began to open his mouth. Hermione immediately leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, the bubble head charm now surrounding them both.

Severus Snape took a deep and rattling breath. And another. Then his eyes flew open again, surprise and triumph over his surviving clearly written over his face. Hermione moved back a fraction so that he could still use the bubble, but wasn´t touching her lips any longer. She felt a pang of regret, which she quickly and efficiently pushed to the back of her mind. This was close enough as it was, wasn´t it? She could feel his breath stroking her face.

It became increasingly difficult to remain in this position without moving too much. The water was in constant motion and she felt herself drifting away. Her professor seemed to have caught on, as he took another deep breath and leaned back slightly leaving the protection of the charm. Viewed from the shore all of this wouldn´t look any different to a finally drowned man´s form swaying back and forth slowly. Hermione and her professor remained linked through her hands on his lapels. He loosened his grip on her wrists and retracted his arms slowly. Then he let his body relax enough to be smoothly carried by the water. His raised eyebrow, however, seemed to signal to her to_ please_ get on with whatever her clever plan involved next, _now_.

Damn, she hadn´t even thought she´d get that far. What now? If they swam away they would be seen. And, of course, there was still that little problem of her teacher being chained to that large rock. Her panicked thoughts must have shown in her face, because Snape rolled his eyes in a very infuriating way. She couldn´t help herself. She glared at him through the bubble and the goggles. It didn´t have the desired effect though. He merely smirked at her. She shrugged. _I mean, what? _He should be grateful that she was there to risk her life to save his pitiful hide.

He gestured to himself and then to the chain.

_Why yes, thanks, hadn´t thought about that. _She nodded. Then she pointed at him and mimicked stabbing him. Did he have a knife?

His expression clearly said: _Dunderhead_!

Hermione felt stupid. Yes, yes, alright. If he had had one, he would have already used it and it was very unlikely that his captors would have left one on him. Well, she would have to get him free anyhow. She pointed at herself and then at her teacher´s ankles. Then she indicated with her thumb that she wanted to move him even closer to the seaweed in order to take a look. Raised eyebrows: Would that be alright with him?

The black-haired man inclined his head slightly. _If you must._

The young witch slowly pulled him towards the green screen. Then she pushed two of the swaying plants into his hands. Like that he would remain in place without having to move his legs. She was just about to carefully dive to the ground, when he bumped his fist against her shoulder. When she met his gaze he opened his mouth, let a stream of bubbles escape and managed a rather impatient looking expression even underwater.

Oh, yes, he needed to breathe...which meant that she had to get really close to him again, intimately close, in fact. Well, that had been a lot easier when it had been a gut reaction.

_Come on, Hermione, you can do it. Don´t be such a ninny! _

She was determined to treat this like an adult would. I mean, she wasn´t kissing him or anything, was she? She took a deep breath and brought her face nearer to his. Her teacher´s expression had turned studiously blank. He didn´t move an inch. Of course, that made it all the harder for her to invade his personal space. This was Professor Snape. You just didn´t cross lines with him, at least not if you valued your life.

The bubble-head charm started to enclose the professor´s face. This time, however, Hermione didn´t lean sideways like she had when she had pressed her lips to his and thus, inevitably, she bumped against his nose. Again blushing furiously she tried to adjust the angle at the same time as him – he had moved his head to the right, as had she.

The feeling of his lips on hers, however short-lived, made a searing warmth spread through her whole body. Regretfully, he quickly pulled back. Once again without oxygen, his expression darkened further. If she didn´t know better she´d have said there was a hint of embarrassment hidden in the stormy eyes. She fleetingly wondered how her professor managed to convey so much with so little eye sight underwater. Then said man slowly tilted his head again, waiting. Hermione cautiously approached him a second time and managed to get the angle right at once. Their lips weren´t touching this time.

"Mszzz Grrzzzzzeeerr."

His voice sounded strangely muffled through the bubble. She couldn´t quite understand him. The feeling of his warm breath on her lips distracted her further.

"Yes?"

"FfFfiiiipphhh piioooiiinnszz ffoo giifffiifoooor"

"I am sorry?"

She shook her head to indicate that she hadn´t understood him.

"FfFfiiiipphhh piioooiiinnszz ffoo giifffiifoooor"

"I am sorry, Sir, I didn´t quite catch that."

This time he didn´t wait for a response.

"Gea ooon wiisszzzzhhh szzhh szzzaaiin."

Her teacher inhaled deeply, moved back and impatiently gestured down at his ankles. Hermione took this as a sign to hurry. She was so used to obeying his stern commands that she simply fell back into her role as student and followed his order. She ducked behind the swaying seaweeds and dived down to the ground. Then she crawled forward using the plants as anchor. Looking up she could see her teacher floating above her like a dementor about to attack. She noticed that he had a very lean body, stretched out like this.

_Stop distracting yourself with irrelevant thoughts and get to the rock. _

The Gryffindor flattened herself to the ground and slowly inched forward until her head and arms emerged from her hiding place. The moving plants were casting shadows over her. She hoped that this would be enough to conceal her own movements. Hermione then took hold of the rock and pulled. It didn´t give. She couldn´t put her whole strength behind it without being pulled out of her hiding place. Frantically she searched the ground behind herself and saw another pair of rocks a little to her left. She took hold of her left flipper and jammed it between them. She was stuck. So far so good.

Returning to the other rock she tried again and succeeded in getting it just that little bit closer to the weeds, her flipper anchoring her. She estimated that about 20 seconds had passed. She would have to return to her professor soon. Taking a risk she used a little more strength and pulled the rock behind the screen in one quick motion. The water became noticeably more muddied where the rock ploughed through the ground before settling back again. Hopefully the Death Eaters had already left or were focused on the form of their captive above. She couldn´t wait any longer, she had to return to him now. Hermione turned to the rocks and tried to pry her flipper free. Unfortunately it had become well and truly stuck when she had moved the rock. _Damnit._ She didn´t have a choice but to leave it there. She slipped out of it and ascended with only one flipper.

When she drew level with her professor she could see his strained expression. She had been just in time. Fortunately they had established a routine by now. He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly filling his lungs with much needed oxygen. After a few seconds he opened them again and nodded. He was ready.

Hermione smiled and nodded back. The professor was now floating right at the seam of the seaweed-screen. It would have to do. She simply needed to get to his ankles, there was no other way. Just like before she vanished behind the screen and dived down, then she turned and followed the chain up until she reached her teacher´s feet. Bellatrix had used a figure of eight to secure the chain to his legs. It became clear very quickly, that he couldn´t have gotten out of this on his own.

Trying not to think too hard on it she stroked along his ankles searching for a weakness in the knot. There was none. Well, that meant the shoes had to go. Professor Snape was wearing his dragon-hide boots. She guessed that they had cost a fortune. She hesitated. Well, he would want to survive, wouldn´t he? Emboldened she tugged at his left boot. It didn´t come off easily, but she finally succeeded. The leather had become more pliable from the water and it had tightened slightly in the cold. Hermione registered with amusement that her teacher was wearing green, woolen socks. It would be a grave shock for the other students were she to tell them that the dungeon bat owned something non-black, even if it was in his House colour.

She would have time enough for the second one before having to return to the Head of Slytherin House. He seemed to have understood what she was doing as he had stretched his foot in order to aid her at the right time. Hermione struggled with the right boot until it came off. She left the expensive shoes on the muddy ground, slowly inched back behind the greenery and ascended to the suspended form of her teacher.

Severus Snape appeared to be displeased, yet not with her, but with the necessity of sacrificing his boots. This time the sharing of the bubble happened in silence and without further awkwardness. However, Hermione became aware of a slight weakening of the charm. All in all she hadn´t been underwater for very long, but with two people using up the oxygen and two people breathing into it, it was bound to collapse sooner than anticipated. Furthermore, the magic behind the charm had calculated the amount of oxygen for a person of her weight and height. It was clear that they would have to hurry. She estimated that they had about five to ten minutes left.

When her professor pulled back she pointed at the bubble and held up her left hand wiggling her fingers. Then she added the other hand. She shrugged trying to convey that she wasn´t sure of that.

He nodded and looked down at his feet and back at her again.

_Understood. _

Hermione returned the way she had come. The chain was still wrapped tightly around the captive´s ankles, but she hoped that the removing of the shoes would give her enough room to slip it off. She once again stroked around the chain, testing it. She accidentally brushed the underside of his left foot. He twitched. It was just a second until he got it under control, but the damage was done. Hermione Granger knew that Professor Severus Snape, bastard extraordinaire, bane of Gryffindor House and personal nemesis of Harry-the chosen one-Potter was ticklish.

_I wonder to what other parts of his body this applies, as well. _

Laughing silently under her breath she returned to the task at hand. She gripped the chain in the middle and pulled it even tighter around his right ankle thus loosening it just that little bit more on the left one. Her professor cooperated by once again stretching his foot. Hermione´s left hand secured the chain, her right tugged at it. It didn´t fit over the ankle like that. She would have to bruise him. She hesitated. As if reading her thoughts he nudged her with his foot. _Do it! _

Hermione pulled off the sock, fastened it to her bathing suit and once again gripped ankle and chain. She had gained another millimetre. She put all of her strength behind it. She swore she heard his bones cracking. Blood was seeping from deep scratches on his heel, but he didn´t so much as twitch this time. After agonising seconds the chain finally gave way. Professor Snape was free.

The Gryffindor returned to him. Strange, how it had become so easy to be this intimate with him. Their chests nearly touched while he was breathing and Hermione had once again taken hold of his lapels in order to keep them together. A little voice inside her head suggested that he might hold her next time, now wouldn´t that be nice? Right now he, of course, still had to clutch the seaweed. Irrationally Hermione wondered whether it was possible to be jealous of a plant.

Taking a last deep breath the subject of her musings floated back and raised his eyebrows again fixing her with his classroom stare.

_Yes, I am paying attention, thank you very much. _She shrugged and lifted her chin. _What, oh brilliant genius?_

His glare intensified. He seemed to have sensed the sentiment behind her gesture.

_Great. _She held up her hands. _Sorry, no cheek intended._

He stared some more. Then he slowly retracted his right arm from his cloak and simply held it in his hand. He nodded at her then at the cloak and the moving seaweed. Hermione caught on quickly. He meant for her to tie the cloak to the plants so that a black patch of cloth remained when they left creating the illusion that a dead man was still floating there. Well, his dramatic streak certainly paid off now. She chose one of the plants to fasten the cloak. She simply used it as a green rope, tugged it through the voluminous sleeve and tied it.

She had just finished with the second sleeve as her professor was suddenly propelled against her, both of them being catapulted behind the green screen. Hermione was just about to 'ask' him how he had managed that when she suddenly became aware of the red aura forming around him. His eyes were full of pain. As quickly as possible she grabbed his head and brought him into the bubble.

Her teacher gasped and breathed in while Hermione was frantically trying to understand what had just happened. Then it came to her. He must have been cursed by someone standing at the shore. Did that mean that they had been caught? Then again nothing further happened. Meanwhile they had both sunk down to the ground, the black-haired man sagging forward, his eyes falling shut.

_Fuck, no, not now! _

Severus Snape slipped from her grasp and hit the ground. Instinctively she followed him and brought her mouth again to his. Unconscious he wouldn´t hold his breath and drown within seconds.

_Please, please, breathe!_

He did and an immense relief flooded her. However, he was still bleeding heavily and if he continued to do so, he´d simply bleed out. The amount of blood set free from a dead person surely differed from that of a human with a still living and pumping heart, too.

_It is dead give-away, no pun intended. Oh shut up, you silly voice._

She had come to the conclusion that the Death Eaters had simply wanted to test whether the traitor really was dead. Since the cloak-shadow would still remain in place and most of the bloody water was concealed behind the plants they might just be fooled. But, she had to stop the bleeding. She couldn´t use magic. What if the captors hadn´t cancelled the spell? That meant she would have to stanch the wound. But what to use? She didn´t feel comfortable giving up her bathing suit. She felt naked enough as it was. However, the only alternative certainly called for awkwardness, too. Making sure that she was keeping the bubble around the wounded man´s mouth she moved her hands along his body until they came to rest at his hips. Cautiously she felt for a belt under his frock coat. There, she could feel a bump under the infamous row of buttons. She pushed up the garment and finally her fingertips met the buckle.

_Merlin´s beard, I am molesting Professor Snape while we are both lying on the ground of the Black Lake. No one is going to believe this. _

She opened the buckle. Now came the hardest part.

_Again no pun intended_– _Oh shut up, won´t you? _

With trembling fingers she took hold of the first button and pried it loose. So far so good. Next one. And next one. She was definitely coming closer to parts of her professor´s anatomy she would never have dreamed of 'meeting face to face', so to speak. Reminding herself that being a Gryffindor implicated that some source of courage and bravery must be hidden somewhere inside of her she continued. It was quite hard not to give in to curiosity and 'accidentally' brush against what lay hidden under a thin layer of cloth. Another fact she would have never expected to know: Professor Severus Snape wore black and tight shorts. Finally the last button came free and she started pulling down his trousers. It was difficult, very difficult. The garment got stuck between her teacher´s body and the ground. After she had gotten past that, she then had to get the trousers down his long legs while keeping him breathing at the same time. It was simply impossible. She was shorter than the man under her and even with her arms she wouldn´t be able to reach his feet.

_Oh damn, what a disastrous night this has become. _

Well, if Hermione Granger was certain about one trait she owned, it was her persistency. The second flipper fell victim to her plan. The young witch circled her arms around her professor´s neck and pressed herself against him. Then she hooked her toes into the trousers and pushed downwards. Hot blood suffused her face when she felt her teacher harden under her wriggling body. Well, that answered another question. She could feel his entire length rubbing against her thinly covered core. She tried to keep a professional distance, but she couldn´t deny that she was aroused, very much so. He felt so hard and good. Focusing on the trousers again she reached the limit of her height. She was now fully stretched out on top of him. Gently she cradled his head and lifted it with her left hand. Her other arm wound around his neck and she lifted him as far as she managed one-handedly. She gained another few centimetres, but it still wasn´t enough. With no other choice left, she let him sink back onto the ground, clamped her hands over his mouth and nose quickly, withdrew the charm from him, stretched her arms and kicked with both of her feet. Success! The trousers came off finally. She was just fishing for the garment when the body under her suddenly jerked forward and Professor Snape sat up abruptly, with her sitting in his lap, her hands still closed over his face. She leaned forward instinctively, offering him the bubble again. His arms shot forward and he pulled her towards him pressing his face against hers and gasping for air.

_Oh God!_

He had unconsciously angled her body in a perfect fit. His hard length was nestled between her legs, rubbing against the already swollen nub. Hermione had to restrain herself with all her might in order not to rock against him. A small moan escaped her, nevertheless. It was that very moment that her teacher seemed to register their position and the fact that he wasn´t wearing his trousers any longer. A fierce rage suddenly clouded his face as he pushed her off him rather savagely.

Of course Hermione didn´t land very hard since she was being slowed down by the water. His frantic expression, however, hurt her down to the core. Professor Snape had just struggled back into life, his survival instinct having kicked in when he wasn´t able to breathe. How bad must he have been hurt in the past to react like that just a few seconds later? She kneeled down and held up her hands again, showing him that she meant no harm and once again he recognised her and calmed immediately. When his eyes met hers she picked up his trousers and pointed at him. Then she mimicked binding him. His brows furrowed, but then he understood. He felt for the wound on his back and his hands came away bloodied. He waved her nearer and lifted his arms, quietly giving her permission. Hermione crawled over to him and wrapped the cloth around him, tying the legs into a tight nod. Over it she fastened the belt and secured the binding in place. It would have to do for now.

To her utter surprise he reached for her again and drew her near. She wouldn´t have thought that he´d initiate contact like that. She didn´t protest.

When he had taken his fill of oxygen he drew back and opened his arms and shrugged. _What next? _Hermione made a wide circling motion with her hand and then pointed up to the surface. Then she beckoned him to follow her. He nodded and they both started to swim into the direction of her hiding place. Whenever he needed to breathe he would tap her foot and she would turn around sharing her bubble-head-charm with him. It was growing smaller and smaller. They needed to hurry. Professor Snape´s motions seemed a bit strained, but he managed to swim without assistance.

Finally they came upon the spot Hermione had first entered the water. As her teacher took another deep breath against her lips the charm suddenly collapsed and they parted. It was now or never. They had to surface or they would drown for real. Cautiously they flattened their bodies to the ground and crawled forward until they felt the muddy ledge right in front of them. Cradling against it they slowly straightened up. They broke the surface. They breathed. Fresh night air caressed their faces. They had made it.

"Bellatrix, what are you waiting for? He´s dead. Let´s go!"

"_Crucio!"_

Screams split the silence, horrible, high-pitched screams. Hermione returned to her hiding post and slipped off the goggles letting them sink to the ground. Through the branches she could see that the three Death Eaters were still standing on the ledge. Bellatrix was torturing one of her own comrades whose body thrashed around on the grass.

"This is _my _mission, the Dark Lord has given me permission to do with him what I want and you will not tell me what to do, you filthy rat. _Finite!"_

Peter Pettigrew laid gasping and sobbing on the ground. It was a pathetic display. Knowing who was behind the mask, Hermione couldn´t muster any pity for him.

"Now, the _magicum revelio_ just registered something."

"What? Magic?" the third man asked.

"No, love in the air, you stupid oaf. Of course magic. Merlin, why do I have to put up with such utterly brainless fools. Let me explain this to you in simple words: the spell didn´t signal any direct increase of magic, which means that no spell, curse or charm was used. However, it indicated a change somehow. I don´t understand why."

"Well, maybe Snape´s magic has died, too?" Pettigrew´s voice was still hoarse and squeaky.

"Dear me, Wormtail, you have just thought a real thought! Does it hurt very much? Not that I am interested. Well, we will have to test your theory, won´t we? Let´s take a look at what is left of that filthy traitor."

Hermione´s heart stopped.

"_Levicorpus!_"

Majestically Severus Snape´s coat floated out of the water and rippled in the wind.

Bellatrix Lestrange´s scream rang out with cold fury. It held the promise of murder.

**A/N: The first reviewer to post the whole underwater conversation correctly wins a short one-shot written by me. You set the prompt, I write...sound good? **


	3. Gryffindor Courage

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry, took some time, but here you go. You were all fabulous with the challenge, but there can only be one winner: **_**werecat08**_**, you did it! I actually did pm you days ago, but somehow it seems to have vanished. Anyway, you´ll give me the prompt and I´ll type away ;-)**

**(BTW, still un-betaed, so please overlook minor/major mistakes)**

**Chapter three- Gryffindor courage**

A hand on her shoulder made Hermione turn around. Her professor had slumped against the supporting ledge and his breathing was getting shallower by the minute. His already white skin was losing every last bit of colour. Nevertheless the black eyes were as alert and sharp as always.

"We need to leave, now."

"Yes, Sir, but –"

"They´ll start searching any second now. Will you manage to apparate on your own? My wound hampers me and I do not have my full power left."

The mad screaming stopped and Hermione and Snape fell silent immediately. Then Bellatrix´s voice reached them again.

"Find him, you useless worms. He couldn´t have gone far. I´ll catch you, Snape, and then I´ll kill you, once and for all! Do you hear me, filthy Muggle lover scum! I´ll kill you!"

"To the Shrieking Shack, now", Professor Snape whispered urgently. "Leave and I´ll follow."

"No, Sir, I–"

"Granger, get over to that damn building or I´ll –"

"No, listen, Sir, please. You are in no fit state to apparate and I have never practiced side-along apparition with someone before. Anyway, Bellatrix has used the _magicum revelio _spell. If we apparate they´ll know before we have left and they will be able to follow the residue of the magic. They´ll find us. Please, Sir, even if we made it, they´d follow and you´d never be able to fight after having apparated in your condition. And –"

"Quiet."

"But –"

"Damn it, for once in your life, just do what I tell you and shut up, for fuck´s sake. I need to think."

To say that she was taken aback would be an understatement. Professor Snape never used swear-words. He insulted people, yes, constantly, in fact. He ripped them to pieces with well-aimed barbs, but he never resorted to profanity. That he was cursing now indicated, that he was far worse for the wear than she had thought. Looking closer, she could see him shaking. He was fighting to stay upright. Hermione didn´t know whether she should be impressed or shocked by his iron control. He stood there, completely soaked, his hair plastered to his skull, his legs bare, wearing one green sock and his frock coat. His trousers were wrapped around his middle and additionally secured with his belt. Under different circumstances it would have been hilarious. Even in this situation it should have made a difference somehow. It didn´t. He still exuded that commanding presence. He seemed to be completely in control. Yet, she knew better. He was certainly experiencing a lot of pain. Hermione was interrupted in her musings when she heard him mutter something under his breath.

"I am sorry, Professor, what did you say?"

"With the _magicum revelio_ they will be able to follow us. As much as it pains me to say, you do have a point. However, we´ll have to try it. I go first, you follow. Destination Shrieking Shack and keep your wand at the ready. It will confuse them when my magic will suddenly be overlapped with yours."

_Did Professor Severus Snape just say, that he agrees with me? The world is going to end. _

The young witch flinched when she could hear footsteps approaching their hiding place. They would be discovered any second now.

"On the count of three", her teacher whispered urgently. Hermione nodded and tried to concentrate on the destination. She would come back for the cloak and her other clothing later.

"Granger, as soon as you arrive, call for help and stay alert. Ready? One, two, thr–"

Their eyes met on two and in this millisecond Hermione saw something in the dark orbs that made her hurriedly close the distance between them. Without thinking she clutched his frock coat and pushed him hard, sending them both toppling over in a heap on the grass. The sad resignation in his eyes changed to angry panic, which only convinced her all the more, that she had guessed correctly. Tears were suddenly streaming down her face and she started shaking.

"Oh, no, no you won´t", she managed between sobs. "I won´t let you."

The footsteps had nearly reached the green thicket they were hiding behind. The professor was lying on his back, his legs dangling over the edge. Hermione was spread out on top of him her hands still fisted around his coat.

"He has to be somewhere, Wormtail. Keep looking, damn it. She is going to kill us, if we don´t find him soon."

Her teacher´s hands caught her wrists in an iron grip. He desperately tried to loosen her hold on him, but she resisted. When she locked eyes with him she could see, that he was close to unconsciousness again.

"No, no! Not even this, not even th–"

Professor Snape lost the fight. His hands fell away from her wrists and his head lolled to the side, a single tear rolling down his left cheek.

"Hey, Wormtail, take a look behind that bush over there. Could be hiding there, he could."

Hermione could hear the Death Eater reaching the thicket and starting to push his way through the greenery. He was panting and she could easily imagine foam coming out of his mouth as he was constantly mumbling threats under his heavy breath. The traitorous rat was just about to step out of the bush when Hermione´s brain finally kicked into gear and she hurriedly ripped Harry´s cloak of invisibility from the pile of clothes and settled it over them. She was quite certain that the professor´s legs were still visible. She hadn´t had enough time to cover them completely.

_Please, please, don´t go looking. Please...just go away!_

If the hated man decided to step closer to the ledge they would be discovered. He walked closer to the spot where Hermione had hidden her clothes, when the voice of the other Death Eater stopped him. His feet were actually brushing against the cloak on the ground. The young Gryffindor clung to her unconscious teacher and tried to breathe against his neck very quietly.

"Well? Anybody there?"

"No. I already told you that Snivellus will be long gone. He has always been a sneaky bastard. Merlin, how I hate him. I am telling you, it doesn´t make sense to go looking for him any longer."

"Come back then and tell her that yourself, Wormtail."

"And I hate that frigid lunatic, as well. It was me, _me_, who brought the Dark Lord back. _Me_! _I_ have saved the master, when he most needed it. Why does he make me take orders from that stupid bitch? Ah, but you will see, you will all see", the fat man mumbled under his breath, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Wormtail!"

"What? I need to piss, if that´s alright with you. So stop harassing me, Antonin."

Antonin. So it was Dolohov. A sharp pain shot through Hermione´s chest where his curse had marked her. Her scar started itching whenever she was under great pressure or was in emotional turmoil. Right now, she felt deep rage surfacing. She was normally rather pacifistic, but with Dolohov she simply couldn´t stop the urge for revenge from rearing its head. This man brought out a side in herself, that deeply frightened and embarrassed her. Fighting against the rush of adrenaline, she stayed where she was, bringing her breath under control again. It wouldn´t do to give them away and endanger the professor just because she wanted to rip out the man´s throat.

The rustling of clothes brought her back to reality. Pettigrew had stepped closer to the bush and started to relieve himself, his head thrown back and his eyes closed. He groaned. It made Hermione gag. It brought about images she would never have wanted to see inside her head. When the rat had finished he grunted in a satisfied manner and was about to leave, when his right foot caught the bundle of clothes stuffed under the branches.

"What? What on earth –"

Pettigrew crouched down and extracted the clothes from their hiding place.

_Fuck._

"Antonin! Come here."

"What is it now? Can´t manage your little rat´s tail on your own?"

"Shut the fuck up and come over here, I found something."

The second Death Eater pushed through the greenery impatiently. Hermione lifted her head a little bit. He had taken off his mask. It was him. Dolohov. He hadn´t changed much since that fateful day in the Ministry. He still had this brutal and vacant expression that so many violent persons wore.

Hermione had long since learned that there was a kind of emptiness in people like Dolohov. An emptiness that could only be filled by following someone with a twisted conviction of glory and honour. That characteristic made them very dangerous, indeed. With them there were no binding inner believes, no higher motives, no, not even misled faith – this kind of man simply attached himself to whatever belief system was offered and paid any price in order to not be left alone in his own devastating void. He held no personality other than that of the follower, no other self-worth than what little he gained through the strict rules his twisted superiors dictated to him. Without a fanatic, uncompromising world-view of black and white he was lost like a frightened little child. And Tom Riddle´s absolutistic and archaic ways attracted men like Dolohov like a flame did a moth.

Merlin, he disgusted and frightened her at the same time. Hermione swore to herself, that – should she be discovered – she wouldn´t go down without a fight. And, if she managed to free the world of Antonin Dolohov along the way, all the better. Surely he deserved to die, didn´t he? Merlin, her own thoughts terrified her. The young witch looked down at her professor´s face and drew strength from his well-known features. Even lying there, hurt and vulnerable, he made her feel safe somehow. Professor Snape had always been reliable. He was one unchanging constant in her otherwise complicated and confusing life. She would safe him somehow. No matter the cost.

"I hope you had good reason to make me crawl through that fucking bush, Wormtail. What did you find then?"

The animagus eagerly shoved Hermione´s clothes into the other man´s hands. The most noticeable of the pile were the school robes and the red and gold striped Gryffindor tie.

"See? See? I told you it was important. These clothes do look fresh, don´t they? They cannot have been here longer than a few hours. They are dry and it rained early this afternoon. Which means –"

"Which means a Gryffindor student is about somewhere. Oh, and it seems –", and now Dolohov´s expression turned particularly repelling, "it seems, that´s our lucky day today. I believe it is a little _missy_."

Once again Hermione had to fight the urge to gag when she saw Dolohov burying his nose in her clothes and sniffing at them. Should she ever get a hold on these robes again, she would burn them.

"Well, I wonder, what would a sweet little girl be doing outside of Hogwart´s safety in the middle of the night, eh? Naughty little piece of fluff, that one, don´t you think? Well, why don´t we find her and offer to make this _her_ lucky day, as well?"

"Damnit, Antonin, I am not the least bit interested in your perverted fantasies. More pressing questions would be: Did she see us? And who would she have met here? The clothes are still here. That means she has to be close by. What if she has run back to the school and has informed Dumbledore? What if the Order is already –"

"Oh, shut it, coward. You have just said yourself, that this is a very unlikely scenario. Why would she run back naked? Well, not that I´d object to that, now, would I? Wait here, I´ll call Bellatrix."

_Hell no! _

This whole mess was getting worse by the second and her teacher still didn´t seem to show any signs of waking up in the next minutes. Dolohov stepped away from the bush and walked closer to the ledge. Three more steps and he would be able to see his old comrade´s legs dangling over it. _One_, he whipped out his wand and muttered an incantation. _Two_, he spoke his message into his wand. _Three, _he called out "_Finite" _and – turned back again.

The Death Eater´s boots were millimetres away from bumping against the man on the ground. It was sheer, dumb luck, that they hadn´t been discovered yet. The moment Bellatrix arrived, the little space behind the bush would be crowded and one of the three Death Eaters would be bound to trip over them. And this realisation was, what made Hermione Granger make a very brave, yet unerringly stupid decision.

The sudden crashing sound of wood had both men drawing their wands and turn to the source of the voice.

"_Bombarda maxima! Reducto!" _

Bellatrix Lestrange was blasting away the whole thicket. Earth and leaves rained down upon her fellow Death Eaters, who immediately started yelling at her to stop. A mad cackle was all that answered them. The deranged witch was obviously enjoying herself, which made the two men curse even louder.

For the young Gryffindor the resulting ruckus was just the kind of distraction she had needed. She once again looked down upon her professor´s face. Considering what she was about to do, she might as well take another risk. She whispered, "Stay safe, Professor", and kissed him lightly on his lips. Then she hurriedly crawled out from under their protection, slid back down the ledge and adjusted the cloak, thus covering her teacher completely. Not wasting any more time she once again dove into the water and swam towards the other side of the thicket. From her point of view she could see, that Bellatrix had nearly destroyed it completely. As if nothing had happened the dark woman stepped over the uprooted greenery all the while humming to herself.

"So, Antonin, let´s see what you have discovered."

The tall man grinned lecherously and waved the Gryffindor tie in front of Bellatrix´s face. A jerk of his head and Wormtail presented the skirt and school robes. The maniacal laughter that then issued from the dark woman made Hermione cringe. Merlin, how she hated that witch.

"Now see here, looks like Snapey dear isn´t the only one out of Hogwarts territory tonight, yes? A little girl, out here all alone, lost, frightened. And Snapey boy feels responsible for his students, right? Even this Gryffindor trash. He might just play hero again – well, I guess it is our duty as honourable citizens to find her, don´t you think? We wouldn´t want her to run into, shall we say, dubious company, now, would we?"

_Well, wasn´t that the perfect cue_, Hermione commented wryly in her head. Time to once again summon that lengendary penchant for stupid bravery and rush in. _Time to find my inner Harry._

Hermione Granger deliberately produced loud splashing noises as she neared the shore where the three Death Eaters were standing. The moment Antonin Dolohov turned, she started screaming.

"Help, help, Death Eaters!"

Then she drew her wand and fired a strong _Reducto _at her enemies´ feet. The resulting blast of sand, leaves and branches momentarily blinded them. She used that moment to scramble up the ledge and start to run. She needed to draw them away from Professor Snape. If she simply apparated now, she couldn´t be certain, that all of them followed. Better to let them believe she wasn´t able to do it in the first place.

"_Stupefy!"_

"_Impedimenta!"_

"_Crucio!"_

The three curses only just missed their target. Hermione dodged one spell after the other fighting back only marginally. She needed to entice them into following her without provoking really sinister spells from all of them. Bellatrix throwing the Cruciatus at her repeatedly was bad enough. Luckily Dolohov hadn´t recognised her earlier. They certainly wouldn´t be so _lenient, _had they known it was _her _they were pursuing. She guessed that wearing only a bathing suit and wet, sleek hair had changed her appearance quite a lot.

It was Pettigrew´s tripping jinx that finally caught her. Hermione crashed down, her arms held protectively in front of her face. She felt every bit of skin being scraped from her legs, knees and arms with painful clarity. She had had such a momentum, that she flipped over several times. The last turn and her head hit a rock. Before everything went black, she vaguely registered three human forms at the edge of her field of vision.


	4. Gryffindor courage part two

**A/N: **

**I know that the last chapter and this one are rather short. Actually, they were planned as one chapter at first. However, I felt you lot would appreciate an attempt at timely updating and therefore I split it into two parts (still un-betaed). Hope, you´ll forgive me ;-) **

**BTW, if any of you have connections to werecat08 please let her or him know they won the challenge. **

**I want to thank all of you for the great support I have been receiving so far. Reviews make my day so keep them coming!**

**Ok, on we go...**

**Chapter four- Gryffindor courage part two**

_Wake up, Hermione, wake up. Danger, danger!_

Panic flared through her whole body as she came to, momentarily disorientated, but certain of impending doom. Every fiber of her being quivered in nervous anticipation. If her hair hadn´t been soaked, it would have frizzed up irreversibly.

_Soaked? Water. Wet. Lake. Professor Snape!_

The young Gryffindor witch sprang into action, her wand still clutched in her right hand. She immediately took on a defensive stance and shouted, "_Protego!" _A second later Dolohov´s binding curse reverberated from her shield. The Death Eaters had finally reached her. Three wands were pointing straight at her.

"Well, well, look what we have here. Such a nice surprise. Good evening, Miss Granger, good evening. Welcome to our party."

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Oh goody, no introductions necessary then? See, I also brought an old friend of yours, sweety. Say hello, Antonin."

"Hel–"

"What are you doing here? You have no business–"

"Ah, ah, ah, now that was plain rude, missy. We were just being polite and –"

"I am not the least bit interested in what a traitorous, stinky rat, a brain-dissected neanderthal and a raving lunatic have to say."

"Mhhhmm," Dolohov purred and rubbed his crotch. "The little cat has claws. I am going to enjoy fucking you very much."

With that the three Death Eaters started moving nearer and nearer, while Hermione was slowly backing away. Their dance had begun.

_Think, Hermione, think! You are outnumbered and you need a little head start before apparating. Time to be a Slytherin. What would Professor Snape do in this situation? Well, brain-dead and rat-face have been at each others´ throats the whole time, haven´t they?_

"I think I am going to plow into you from behind, in front of all our brethren, until you cry out for mercy."

A wicked grin spread over her face and she tried to produce the most condescending tone she was capable of. "Oh, yeah? I have heard you got difficulties getting it up, _Tony_. Maybe you should talk to Olivander? Although, I don´t know, if he can fix _this _kind of _wand_ problem. Hey, what about St. Mungo´s then?"

Peter Pettigrew started sniggering under his breath. He was clearly enjoying _the show, _so to speak. His weapon, however, was still trained on the young witch. Dolohov was still trying to understand what was happening. He obviously hadn´t expected such a reaction from his victim.

"Oh, Tony, don´t think too _hard _on it, oops, forgive the pun. It can happen with men who have reached a certain age, you know? Statistically every third man experiences sexual malfunctions at least once during adulthood. We needn´t tell the others, eh? That´ll be our little secret, yes? I guess, it really is a _little _secret, come to that..."

The animagus started laughing outright at this. "Hey, _Tony, _seems your reputation has been somewhat tarnished, don´t ya reckon?"

The young witch nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes, did you know that some of the ladies of Knockturn Alley gave him his money back, because he couldn´t perform?"

"What? That´s not, you litt–"

"They did say something about _pitiful attempts_ and _not adding insult to injury _or something like that. So, it´s true then?"

"No!" Dolohov shouted.

"Well-" Pettigrew speculated gleefully.

"Shut it and keep your eyes on her," snapped Bellatrix.

"Ah, you are in denial. Tell me, Peter, does our dear Tony talk a lot about his sexual prowess? Does he tell a lot of, let us call them, slippery jokes?"

The former Marauder started bellowing with derisive laughter. "Oh, yes."

"And does he constantly make fun of other men, men he says are impotent or unattractive?"

Pettigrew became increasingly red-faced and lost his wand focus momentarily.

"Now this is one of the classical symptoms of denial. It´s called _projection_." And with her best swotty lecturing tone she continued, "That means he has to make fun of others, because he has so much fear to be the deadbeat himself. So, he bullies others to cover up his own inadequacies. But, he doesn´t really mean it, you know, he just wasn´t loved by his _mummy. _Actually, he could very well be gay."

The little, fat man lost it then, gasping for air and spluttering incoherently. "A lad, Tony is a lad."

Dolohov´slecherous expression turned into a grimace of rage. "Shut the fuck up, Wormtail. And you, you little bitch, I´ll stuff that foul mouth of yours with good hard Death Eater cock soon enough."

"Oh? And here I thought it was the rat´s job to do the _sucking up. _Ever thought about why his name is _petting-grew_?" Accompanying Hermione made a rather obvious gesture with her index finger and winked.

This time it was Dolohov´s laughter that set off his comrade´s wrath. "Merlin, I never thought of that. _Petting-grew, _you wicked little sucker. I truly wondered just why you were being kept alive for so long. Guess you must have some hidden talent, eh?"

Hermione decided to up the ante even more. "Oh, yes, though it must be _deeply buried, _get it? _Deeply buried?"_

Now, even Dolohov would comprehend the reference, wouldn´t he? The resulting roar of mirth indicated, that yes, Antonin had got the pun, good boy.

For the first time Hermione understood what Professor Snape had meant that day, when he had told Ron that there were some people, who were very hard to insult, at all. Her red-haired friend had been furious and even she hadn´t quite caught on then. Ron was the one to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. Actually, he was in a continuous state of feeling slighted. He should be very easy to insult, shouldn´t he? Wielding her words like weapons just now, she appreciated, that insults were much more to her DADA teacher than petty squabbles. They were useful tools and a long perfected, complex art. And both were wasted on men like Dolohov, and yes, regrettably also on her dear friend Ronald Weasley.

Meanwhile, just like Hermione had intended, a furious Pettigrew and an equally amused Dolohov were now facing each other, their wands pointing at each other. The last was just now making crude gestures at the smaller man, imitating the act of fellatio by sucking theatrically on his left thumb and moaning at the same time. Where moments before the former Marauder had been red-faced from sheer malicious joy his expression showed an uncontrollable rage, now. Time to drive the message home.

"Did you know that rats are omnivores? They _swallow_ everything."

Before her nemesis could let loose another volley of hysterical laughter, the animagus´s fist crashed into his jaw. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Pettigrew started bashing the other man, who was currently too surprised to fight back.

Hermione had been right. It had been one taunt too much and the traitor had finally snapped. Sirius had told her once, that even with the Marauders the shy and socially inept boy had often been jokily called gay and had been constantly laughed at because of it. Oh, the cruelty of popular children.

Dolohov had finally come to his senses and both men were engaged in a true fisty cuff now – and thus no longer any danger to her.

_Ha, the merit of a classical education: Divide et imperat!* _

However, now it was time to face the greatest threat. The two witches regarded each other, both wands in a combative position. Bellatrix Lestrange was the first to break the silence.

"Well, missy. It seems I have underestimated you."

_Damn right. No games with you, though._

"S_olaris_!"

A ray of pure, hot light shot out of Hermione´s wand. Bellatrix´s reaction was quick as lightning, but in the end it didn´t help. A not so well-known fact is, that the Solaris spell blinds you, even through a protective shield. The only ways to counter the spell are to conjure a mirror and deflect the light or to prevent direct eye-contact in the first place (which of course meant that you had to let the caster out of your sight, a definite disadvantage in battle). The young Gryffindor had read about it, Bellatrix obviously hadn´t. Well, Hermione wasn´t the brightest witch of her age for nothing.

"Damn it, you bitch. I can´t see, I can´t see! Antonin, Wormtail, grab her, now! I´ll fucking kill you! Do you hear me, I´ll kill you and this bastard Snape!"

"Good luck with that."

Hermione Granger disappeared with a loud bang. She had won the fight, but not the battle. Once Bellatrix had regained her sight and had gotten the others under control again they would hunt her down. The _magicum revelio _was still activated and that meant that she could be traced. She estimated that she had about ten to fifteen minutes until her pursuers were on her trail again. She had already thought of a plan to trick them and their blasted spell.

She apparated right into the bedroom of the hut she and her parents had camped in during one of their trekking tours through the Forest of Dean. It was snowing outside and the inside of the wooden building was freezing cold. The hut was only used during the summer holidays and was simple in furniture and accommodations even then. At least the master bedroom was equipped with a full-size bed, on which she was currently balancing in order to avoid tracks in the dust. Ironically enough, if her plan worked, she would be lying in the same bed in just a few minutes with none other than the dreaded bat of the dungeons. Better not to think on that too much, right?

The Death Eaters would be able to register every spell used in a certain time-range. Therefore she would need to confuse them. Once being able to return here with the professor she would need to heal him, if she wanted him to have any chance of surviving. Thankfully she had been hurt enough herself to warrant a healing spell without drawing suspicions about her teacher. She traced the deeper scratches on her arms and legs with her wand and muttered the according incantation. Hermione planned to spin layer after layer of the same spells and apparation traces in order to make it impossible to differentiate them afterwards. Hopefully that would be enough to conceal the professor´s additional traces. They would be minimal in any event, because she would use side-along apparition. It took her about seven minutes to apparate back and forth between various spots surrounding the hut, their hide-out at the lake and the Hogwarts boundaries. At every destination she sent off her patronus to the last one she had been at and made it come back, thus creating further confusing evidence. When she reappeared near Hogwarts for the last time she conjured her otter and sent it off towards the castle. "Help, Death Eaters at the Black Lake!" She didn´t dare to mention anything about her or Professor Snape or where to find them in case the _magicum revelio _was powerful enough to reconstruct not only the spell, but also the message.

The young witch was becoming increasingly exhausted. She had a splitting head-ache and felt nauseous from the many apparations. With an iron will she forced herself to stay focused and finally she stood next to her hidden teacher again. Carefully she neared his location with her hands on the ground until she felt the velvety material of the cloak under her fingers. Having removed the garment she was relieved to find that he was still there. Then she drew a deep breath and told herself that it wouldn´t do to panic now. True, she had never apparated with someone else before and statistics offered no reassurance about first attempts, either, but chickening out now was no option, so she might as well get it done. She had surprised herself many times already that day, she would succeed with another impossible mission, wouldn´t she? Anyway, apparating was about determination and concentration and she´d be damned, if she had ever been more keen to leave a place, and get somewhere else instead, before.

After having finished her little inner prep-talk she crouched down beside her professor and heaved him into a half-sitting and half-lying position thus being able to wrap her arms around his torso. The dark-haired man groaned quietly, but didn´t wake. Hermione became aware of the large, red stain on the grass. Professor Snape had lost quite a lot of blood. She needed to heal him or he´d die. On impulse she smoothed away the wet, dark locks from his face and whispered, "I´ll keep you safe, I promise, Sir." Closing her eyes, and focusing exclusively on that wish, she apparated both of them onto the bed in the lonesome hut in the middle of the Forest of Dean. They survived and didn´t split, but she very nearly lost all of her stomach´s contents before the room finally stopped spinning.

_Concentrate, Hermione. Just a little bit more and you can rest._

With her last strength she undid the self-made compress, wrestled the professor out of all of his soaked clothes and healed his deep wound as best as she could. She then proceeded to tug the blankets out from under the naked man and covered him up again. At least he wouldn´t bleed to death or catch a cold immediately from being wet all over like this. All the while she tried not to stare at the tantalising trail of black hair that started at his chest and promised to reach even more interesting places. Hermione started staggering dangerously. She was close to passing out. Summoning the last bit of energy left to her she shrugged out of her own bathing suit and hid all of the wet clothes under the bed. Then she crawled in next to her professor and spread Harry´s cloak over the both of them. To an outsider the bed now appeared to be unoccupied and, since she hadn´t touched the ground while apparating, it hopefully looked as though no one had been inside this room for a long time. She had, however, been trampling around in the snow outside faking a trail that led right into the wood.

Maybe it would have been better to lay even more false trails, maybe she should have apparated into Hogsmeade and have tried to reach the school from there, maybe she should have simply respected her teacher´s sacrifice, maybe she should have secured the cloak in some way in case one of them moved too much and became visible again, but frankly Hermione just couldn´t care anymore. She felt completely knackered and half-frozen. She didn´t even feel embarrassed when she snuggled closer to her teacher desperate for some warmth. She couldn´t stop herself falling into a deep slumber.

Either her plan worked, or it didn´t. There was nothing more she could do.

_***Divide et imperat**_** means divide and rule: a tactical strategy used my none other than Julius Caesar.**

**AN:**

**I am so proud of Hermione here, she really shows what she´s made of **


	5. Surviving safety

**A/N: **

**I know some of you will be disappointed about how things develop, but I tried to keep realistic and the story is not over yet! (maybe, I guess, ehm, well) And please consider that Severus Snape has just lost his role as the Order´s spy, Hermione has taken away the chance of noble sacrifice and it is the Gryffindor K.I.A. he ows a new life-debt to...you know, considering the last debt turned out so peachy for him...and he is human, after all **

**Did I mention that I want to hug you all for your great reviews and pms (huh, how does that figure? What exactly is a less misleading abbreviation for private messages?), anonymous or not?**

**Ok, on we go...**

**Chapter five- Surviving safety**

Something was tickling Hermione´s face. She didn´t want to wake, though. She felt curiously warm and relaxed, as if she had slept deeply through the whole night. Her still foggy brain provided her with the information that it was a Saturday morning and she might as well have a lie in. All too soon the noisy Great Hall would be upon her again. With a contented sigh the young witch snuggled deeper into the blanket and shifted slightly to her right. She bumped into something, something warm and breathing.

"Morning, Crooks", she mumbled before sinking back into a peaceful slumber.

The man, occupying the other side of the bed, didn´t even move. He, too, seemed to be completely lost to the world. He was lying on his back, his breathing deep and even, his black hair tousled and his lips slightly parted. Something about this serene scene didn´t fit though. Looking closer, deep circles of utter exhaustion could be seen under both pairs of eyes. From time to time a rather pained expression ghosted over the man´s face only to disappear just as quickly again. What was truly disconcerting though, was the fact, that only their respective heads could be seen lying in that bed. For someone not knowing that the silent couple was protected by an invisibility cloak it made for a truly gruesome sight. The sun was already streaming into the small room. Dust flakes were dancing in the highlights long before either of the two figures on the bed started moving again.

It was Hermione who showed the first signs of finally waking up. However, it weren´t sweet dreams carrying the young witch back to reality. For the last hour she had become increasingly agitated, tossing around and whimpering occasionally. Nightmares of sea-monsters dragging her underwater and drowning her made her shiver in spite of the cosy warmth surrounding her. As Antonin Dolohov´s face suddenly appeared before her eyes she made an involuntary movement, kicking as hard as she could. Her foot hit her target with a loud thud. Before she could do anything more an arm crashed against her wind-pipe, throwing her head back into the pillow at a very uncomfortable angle and a hard body forced her brutally against the mattress. Hermione´s scream of panic died in her throat. For two seconds she simply froze impotently.

_Fight back, you stupid cow, fight back!_

The young Gryffindor sprang into action. She _would not _die like that, after everything she had suffered through the day before. Her hands were held in a vice-like grip over her head and her attacker used one cocked leg to keep her lower body immobile. The only option for her was to dislodge whoever was lying on top of her, and quickly. Hermione pressed her head deeper into the pillow and pushed hard against the body covering her. At the same time she clawed at the hand holding her wrists with her fingernails and tried to bite the other arm located under her chin. Like a mad-woman she struggled, scratched, bit and spat at him.

"What the –" The man above her suddenly loosened his hold on her.

_Ha, big mistake. Take this!_

The brightest witch of her age acted on impulse. There was that one spot _every_ man was vulnerable at and she didn´t care whether this was foul play anymore. Quick as lightning she bent her leg and pulled her knee up towards her attacker´s crotch. Unfortunately he seemed to have anticipated that move, as he kicked her leg aside roughly and was now settled between her thighs, the aim of her manoeuvre poking proudly into her belly. And that was when she finally became aware of the fact that they were both very, very naked.

"N..no, no!"

"Miss Granger!"

_My hands are free...wait my throat is..., I can speak!_

"Get off me, you disgustful, perverted little –"

Hermione´s hands shot forward and gripped the beast´s shoulders, pushing him back. The insult´s conclusion, however, never left her lips. The dark-haired man had relented and was now kneeling above her his face mere inches away from hers. She was staring into two very familiar black orbs and his expression ranged from somewhere between thunderous and murderous.

"Ppprofffessor Ssnnape?"

A deep-red blush suffused her cheeks and travelled down her whole body. Oh, Merlin, she had just rubbed herself against her teacher. No, scratch that, she had tried toknee Professor Snape´s private parts. _Gods, I am soooo dead!_

"Finally returned to the real world, have we, Miss Granger?"

"I, yes, I am sorry, Sir, I just –"

"Typical Gryffindor behaviour, overreacting without thinking. Once again you made your house´s greatest weaknesses all too painfully clear."

"I don´t think, that–"

"Just like Potter you are, making excuses for every transgression without stopping to think about the consequences others have to face because of you and your arrogance for one damn second. Pathetic!"

Hermione had unconsciously backed away from her teacher´s malicious words. She had sunk back against the pillow, lying there nearly motionless, while the former Death Eater was still kneeling above her and was hurling insults at her. Why was he that angry? Hermione couldn´t ever remember him being so out of control. The whole situation was completely absurd. She had just saved his petty ass, hadn´t she? She had risked her life for him, damn it! He should be–

"You and the other little wannabe heros constantly rush into things they do not understand and expect us lower beings to be grateful for it. Well, you´ll be disappointed, Miss Granger, ´cause there´ll be_ no_ hero-worshipping from _me_!" The dark man had leaned closer to her, throwing the last bit right into her face, his eyes full of hatred and rage. His hands were situated on both sides of her head. "Do you understand?" he bit out.

This wasn´t the teacher she knew. This wasn´t the cold and often enough cruel, but always rigidly controlled, Potions Master. His hands balled into fists and he slammed them down into the mattress right beside her wide-eyed face. "Do you understand?" he screamed.

Hermione simply nodded, not trusting her voice. Tears were burning in her eyes. He had truly frightened her. The only other time she had seen him like this had been when Sirius Black had escaped. But even then he hadn´t looked so _demented. _The professor pursed his lips in a condescending way and sat up, taking the bedding with him. While he was still covered by the blankets Hermione was suddenly fully exposed. His eyes swept over her body once before locking with her gaze again. "Get dressed, Miss Granger." With that he turned around and sat on the edge of the bed. He didn´t say anything further.

Tears of rage and humiliation were streaming down her face. How had everything suddenly gone so wrong? The last she could remember was having just protected and healed the teacher she mightily respected and secretly admired only to wake up to a complete nightmare. She hastily scrambled of the bed and retrieved the still damp clothes from underneath it. Should she use a drying charm? She didn´t dare to ask. Thus she once again slipped into her torn and wet bathing suit. At least she was covered like that. Her naked foot caught a piece of smooth fabric and Hermione was glad to see that the Invisibility Cloak had fallen down at her side of the bed during their struggle. Quickly she ensconced herself in the warm material. After all, it was still freezing outside and the temperature in the small room hadn´t risen much in their sleep. The question, however, was what to do with Professor Snape´s clothes. Right now she truly didn´t want to approach him. Not in that state. Hermione angrily brushed away the last stray tears. He didn´t deserve this.

Why then did she feel so profoundly betrayed? Like someone had just gone ahead and stabbed an important part of her. Who was she kidding? Just last evening she had wasted hours thinking about him and his role in the Order and her life. Come on, she had even started to make a whole damned project out of him! Had she truly been so desperate, that she made him out to be more than he truly was? She had been so sure that he wasn´t as one-dimensional as the others tended to see him, but maybe it was her, that was the fool? How could he be so cruel? Especially on _this_ level? The Potions Master had always been very talented at hitting his targets, hurt-wise. He knew exactly what would cut the deepest, and yet, he had never ever used any form of sexual harassment. His scathing remark about her teeth had been the closest to physical demotion she had ever heard from him. Did he truly hate her that much? Well, if he meant to make this personal, so would she. She´d be damned if she let him walk over her like that again. She would show him, she would – act exactly like Harry always had.

_Way to go, Hermione, one test of your hypothesis when it´s concerning you and you give up, as well. Very mature, really._

"Are you quite finished?" His clipped tone ripped her out of her contemplations.

"Yes, Sir."

Her voice had turned back to polite and formal. _In dubio pro reo. _She would not take his miserable and antagonistic bullshit at face-value. It was time to employ professional detachment. _Yeah, good luck, Miss Swotty._

Her DADA-teacher had turned around on the bed and was fixing her with a cold stare. "So, did you lose all of my clothes during your little _adventure_?"

_Professional and detached, professional and detached. _"No, Sir. Here they are. Your boots and one sock are missing. The clothes are still damp, though. Shall I dry them for you?"

Hermione could have sworn that something like relief had flashed through the dark eyes. That would be a good sign, wouldn´t it? It must have been as uncomfortable for him to be naked in this situation as it had been for her. The young witch stepped closer to the man still wrapped in the blankets, holding out the bundle of clothes.

"No."

She stopped. "Pardon?"

"No, don´t use a drying charm. Even your less than stellar intelligence should have provided you with that answer. We cannot use magic until we know that it is safe to do so. Ah, Miss Granger, how disappointing."

_Why thanks for pointing out the obvious, Mister. Well, two can play the game. _"True, Sir, it would be more comfortable to have them dried, before having to wear them. Sorry for that."

She hadn´t fooled him, of course. His raised eyebrow seemed to tell her how pathetic her comeback had been. Then again, he let it drop and simply gestured for her to hand over the garments. After having delivered the bundle she turned around and walked to one of the windows facing the small clearance the hut was located in. Not wanting to take a risk she first ducked under the cloak so that she wouldn´t be seen from below. The snow had been completely trampled down and various lanes were leading into the dark forest. So, they had come here. Hermione felt very proud of her achievement. Her strategy had worked. So far, at least! Hopefully the Death Eaters weren´t still out there looking for them. Professor Snape was more than a handful in his current constitution, but she felt relieved to give responsibility back to him from now on. It had been a trying evening for her.

"Miss Granger?"

Hermione turned around and found herself staring. It was a slight shock to see her teacher returned to his usual imposing garb, sans the cloak and his boots, of course. But what really kept her attention was the change in his stance and his expression. He seemed to have slipped back in his former habit in both senses of the word. As if the clothes somehow grounded him. He didn´t exude this terrible aura of danger anymore.

"Over here, Professor." She stepped away from the window and revealed her head by lowering the cloak.

"I see. Sit down, Miss Granger. I want you to tell me everything you can remember, little as it may be."

Hermione immediately relaxed further. Now, that had been a classic Snape. Of course he was still being a git, but he sought to take over control again and that meant he was functioning again and that meant she wouldn´t need to any longer. If he was irritated by the brief smile she shot his way he didn´t show it. They awkwardly settled down on the edge of the bed.

"I don´t have time to inquire as to your hare-brained scheme for being down there after curfew, Miss Granger, but believe me, that will be settled at the appropriate time. All I need you to describe are the events that unfolded after you attacked me at the Lake."

"I didn´t –"

"Quiet. I am not interested in your petty excuses, as you know and I hate to repeat myself. After I lost consciousness, what happened? And don´t whine, if you please, just start sprouting the facts like you are so prone to do in my classes."

_That_ _bloody bastard. _Hermione was starting to fume inside. How dare he talk down to her like this. With an enormous effort she reminded herself that she was a supporter of the _look-behind-his-words-and-ask-what-he does-instead-of-what-he-says-_theory. Stripping his little soliloquy of its vitriol she guessed he had said something along the line of: 'We are still in danger, I need you to give me the hard facts so that I can determine what to do next. Time is of essence.'

Grinning inwardly about this very unlikely scenario she nevertheless prepared to respond to the hidden appeal instead of the more obvious goading. However, she couldn´t help but accuse him of being more difficult than would have been necessary, especially in their current situation. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, trying to picture everything that had happened in her head. Then she opened them again and nodded as a sign that she was ready. It didn´t escape her notice that the professor hadn´t interrupted her doing so, even though it had taken her some time to collect herself.

"Pettigrew and Dolohov were searching for you. I had hidden my clothes under the thicket. I removed the Invisibility Cloak and covered us. Pettigrew was the first to arrive, but he didn´t see us. Then he relieved himself and stumbled over my clothes. After that he called for Dolohov, who got excited about the fact that a female student was about. He then called Bellatrix. I knew I had to lure them away, or you would be found. The clearing was getting really crowded. When Bellatrix started to blast away the bush I was able to get back into the water. I swam some metres and started screaming, as if I had just discovered them. A _reducto _gave me enough cover to get up the ledge. Then I waited until I had their full attention and started running. After about two minutes Pettigrew caught me with a tripping jinx and they closed in on me. All three had followed me. I decided not to apparate immediately, as they had still activated the _magicum revelio. _I remembered that you said during one of our last lessons that it was important to know your enemies. Dolohov and Pettigrew had been at each others´ throats the whole time, so I edged them on and they started fighting each other. Bellatrix was furious. I didn´t know her, so I used a _Solaris _to blind her. Then I apparated back and forth between Hogwarts boundaries, our location here and the Lake. I used my Patronus to create further misleading traces and once send a message to Hogwarts. I also applied several healing charms at this location. Then I returned to you and apparated us both onto the bed. I needed to get you out of the wet clothes and heal you. I did that. Then I was so exhausted that I needed sleep, as well. I covered us with the cloak. That is the last thing I remember, Sir."

Professor Snape looked at her, an indefinable expression on his face. Hermione held his gaze. She had told him the facts, without emotional package or embellishment. She was secretly quite proud of that feat. Even her sarcastic teacher didn´t seem to find something to criticise this time.

"What message did you send?"

_No insults this time, interesting. _"Help, Death Eaters at the Black Lake!"

"Nothing more? Are you absolutely certain, Miss Granger?"

"I am, Sir."

The dark-haired man stood up and started pacing. He seemed to be deep in thought. It was really quite funny seeing his legendary predatory style of walking without the swishing of his cloak and on bare feet. Taking the lack of further verbal abuse into account Hermione was rather certain that her earlier evaluation had been correct. Yay! Pro theory: 1/Against theory: 0. Her companion muttered under his breath, obviously weighing the odds of discovery, should they use magic. After he had passed her for the tenth time he stopped and turned to her.

"Have you looked out of the window earlier?"

"Yes, Sir. A lot of traces, no one visible."

He nodded. "It would seem they searched for you here, but didn´t come up to our room."

_Our room. _ Warmth settled in the pit of her stomach. He at least acknowledged that they were in this together. And as far-fetched as it sounded, there might have been a compliment hidden deep down there somewhere.

"I think it´s safe to assume that the Headmaster and other members of the Order came looking for you. They will have found the same traces, though not as strong as Bellatrix and her side-kicks with their _magicum revelio_. Some of the tracks down there might even be theirs. The Order will be patrolling after not having been able to find you and even Bellatrix wouldn´t confront them with just two comrades at her side. We will apparate back to the gates."

A smile spread over her face. She had hoped that he would say that. She wanted to return to Hogwarts and safety, but mostly she wanted to take a long hot bath and get into warm and comfortable clothes.

"There is no reason to grin like that, Miss Granger. Believe me: this is far from over for you. Once we are in the castle I´ll have you answer for your serious lack of judgement. Now, we apparate on the count of three. One."

"Wait."

"Miss Granger, I –"

"Sir, with all due respect, I think I have earned the privilege to say, that I am happy that we both survived this nightmare. I know, you said that you will not hero-worship me and that´s fine, ´cause I was never looking for that anyway. Still, I want you to know that I was very frightened yesterday and not just for my life, but yours as well. I don´t know how they found out about you, but I do know that you are in even greater danger now and I feel like that´s very unfair to you. It should be an opportunity for celebration that you no longer have to go there, but somehow it all seems even more of a razor´s edge for you now. And I´m sorry."

Silence reigned. The two survivors stared at each other. Hermione was beginning to regret having spoken her thoughts out loud. Finally she could no longer hold his gaze and dropped hers to the floor instead. Professor Severus Snape was slowly approaching. His naked feet stopped mere millimetres in front of her.

"On the count of three, and if you dare to interrupt me one more time I´ll knock you out and drag you back into the school. One, two, three."

Two cracks of apparation sounded and witch and wizard suddenly reappeared in front of the mighty gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Hermione, Severus, thank Merlin, you are alive!"

Arthur Weasley had been on guard duty and came hurrying towards them. Then he whisked out his wand and his bright Patronus vanished into the direction of the great stone building. Hermione was deeply moved when she saw that the older man had tears in his eyes as he enveloped her in a fatherly embrace.

"As touching as this whole scene is, it would be safer to return to the school."

"Oh, yes, Severus. I am sorry. So good to have you back. Come on, Hermione, Harry and Ron have been very worried about you."

"They would be, wouldn´t they?" she sniffed.

She was so happy to be back. Professor Snape was striding through the gates, closely followed by the Weasley patriarch and the young Gryffindor. As soon as they were on Hogwarts grounds her DADA teacher whipped around and bit out, "Ah, before I forget, let me repeat what I have told you underwater already, Miss Granger."

"Sir?"

"Fifty points from Gryffindor!"

With that the tall, dark-haired man quickened his step and left his two companions staring stupidly after his retreating form.

_Detached and professional, my arse! _

**AN:**

_**In dubio pro reo**_**- giving the benefit of doubt, though it really means: If there are any doubts as to the accused´s fault, then the judge must decide in favour of him/her**

**But I´m a layman, if anyone has better knowledge of this, please correct me.**


	6. The gratitude of a Slytherin

**A/N: **

**First of all, sorry for the long delay. I have started a new job three weeks ago and in addition we are moving and I had to organise a lot. So, there was not even a bit of energy left for writing. Especially ´cause our current hirers do their best to imitate Dolores Umbridge to perfection...can´t say that I am going to miss them. Nope *shakes head***

**Back to the story, though:**

**Well, thanks for the great support for my last chapter. I feel very happy that my version of a realistic confrontation between these two met with your approval. BTW, has anyone caught on to the fact that I had grandly promised that this story would only take up to 4 chapters...care to count? *lol* These two have a mind of their own, I tell you, and if they want to have their story told full circle they always get their way, what can I say ;-)**

**This chapter will fulfil a promise I made somewhere in chappie 2 I think: Which book led Hermione to go down to the Lake at all? Hope you´ll like the explanation!**

**BTW, I won´t include further characters, I don´t want it to become epic, so no Harry or Ron ´xept in mentioning them as an aside...**

**Ok, on we go...**

**Chapter six- The gratitude of a Slytherin**

Looking back at everything that had happened in just that few hours the day before, Hermione was starting to wonder whether Guardian Angels truly did exist. Now, that she was back in the safe confines of the impenetrable castle walls, the shock of having been in that amount of danger came crashing home with a vengeance. While underwater and later during her insanely improvised flight and subsequent rescue of Professor Snape, she hadn´t had the opportunity to panic. Ok, maybe she had felt overwhelmed at some point, but she hadn´t let those feelings take over. Later on exhaustion had claimed her and she hadn´t been able to care about anything anymore at all. Merlin, she might have even been told that she´d failed all of her NEWTs and still slept through the night placidly.

However, being rushed towards the Headmaster´s office by a very concerned and yet still somehow suave Arthur Weasley made everything become frighteningly real all of a sudden. It was crazy, wasn´t it? Honestly, she was safe now, why on earth did she start to tremble now? She had made it! _They_ had made it! Hermione did her best to calm herself. It wouldn´t do to appear before Albus Dumbledore like a frightened little first-year. Though, still wearing as good as nothing under her cloak wasn´t exactly comforting either. The bathing suit had been ripped at places and it was still uncomfortably damp.

_Damn it, Granger, are you a witch or what?_

Now that she was back at school she could use a drying as well as a mending charm. With all of her thoughts jumbled in her head she hadn´t even thought about it until now. Exasperated at her own stupidity she quickly whipped out her wand and solved the problem. With that a feeling of being in control came back and she managed to slow down her erratic heart-beat to a bearable rhythm. When the Gargoyle shifted aside to let them pass, Hermione Granger lifted her chin and prepared to present herself as a responsible adult.

Mr. Weasley ushered her up the stairs and when they reached the top the heavy oaken door swung open. Following the senior Order member inside, Hermione looked around inconspicuously. She hadn´t been to Professor Dumbledore´s office as often as Harry had. Her natural curiosity edged her on. There were so many interesting objects on display and she wasn´t able to even begin to fathom how many fascinating books were hidden in the shelves lining all of the walls.

_Snap out of it Granger, the last time you blindly rushed off for - and because of - a book went all peachy, remember?_

"Ah, hello Arthur. And Miss Granger, welcome back. We are all very happy to see you unharmed."

Her eyes focused on the Headmaster, who was sitting behind his desk, a benevolent twinkle in his eyes. Fawkes trilled a soothing welcome to her. The long-bearded wizard didn´t seem to be too mad at her. Hopefully that meant that she wasn´t in too much trouble. That hope shattered into a thousand pieces, however, when a new voice cut through the beautiful Phoenix song.

"Oh yes, we all are. _So_ happy,_ each_ time one of those golden Gryffindors decides to break the rules once again and surprisingly manages to make it out alive, so very _happy_. Why, I even think we should consider awarding Miss Granger an Order of Merlin while we´re at it. Would second class be acceptable to you, Miss Granger? After all, you were so _heroic, _what with your grand entry and – "

"Severus."

" and your Gryffindorish, self-sacrificing vomit-inducing, oh so noble gesture towards the greasy dungeon bat. Oh, that must have made you feel all grand and –"

"Severus!"

"– so, so_ brave_ and most especially so _selfless_. Your heart must have nearly burst from self-righteous pride for being the better human being, for doing the _right thing, _even for the hated Death Eater and murderer. Tell me, did you get off on –"

"_Enough!" _Albus Dumbledore´s voice didn´t sound benign anymore and there certainly was no twinkle left in his eyes. "Sit down, Severus. And Minerva, stop glowering at me like this. These past few hours have been stressful for all of us. I´d like to listen to Miss Granger´s story without further interruptions, though."

Hermione´s gaze met such hateful eyes, that she unconsciously took a step back and bumped into Arthur Weasley, who had been standing behind her as silent support. Professor Snape didn´t show any outward signs of their mutual adventure any longer. The bastard was again dressed to the ninth, all glorious black costume back in place, down to the damned dragon-hide boots. He had even dried his hair. So, that was why he had been in such a hurry. He had known that they´d be dragged before the Headmaster and, ever a Slytherin, hadn´t wanted to appear in his ragged clothes. Her Head of House was standing at one of the great windows, her expression thunderous. Sensing Hermione´s eyes on her the older witch´s eyes softened and she gestured for her to take a seat in front of the Headmaster´s desk.

"Miss Granger, come and sit down. I am sure you´ll be able to explain everything satisfactory."

"Thank you, Professor."

Hermione swallowed, then lifted her chin and walked past her still vengeful looking DADA teacher to take a seat beside Professor McGonagall. Mr. Weasley followed her and positioned himself beside her chair, immediately shielding her from the other man´s hateful aura. His hand squeezed her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Hermione once again found herself reminded of how much people tended to underestimate the Weasley patriarch due to his unassuming and subtle ways.

"Severus?"

"I´ll remain standing, Albus, thank you."

Professor Snape´s voice had turned derisive and cold again, icy control back in place. That man had more mood-swings than Lavender had during 'that time of the month', Hermione thought vindictively.

"As you wish. Now, Miss Granger, first I´d like to inform you, that your Patronus was intercepted by Professor Slughorn, who was taking a stroll outside the castle near the Greenhouses. He immediately alerted the other teachers. Order members joined and we went looking for you. Professor Snape´s absence didn´t register at first. I knew that he had been summoned last evening. However, once we arrived at the Black Lake we stumbled upon Bellatrix Lestrange and her comrades. Pettigrew and Lestrange, unfortunately, managed to flee, but we caught Antonin Dolohov. To cut a long story short, informed us of our spy´s misfortune and their subsequent encounter with yourself."

They caught Dolohov. That disgusting man would finally be held responsible for what he had done to her and countless others. Hermione swore to herself that she would sit through every last court meeting until she saw him brought to justice. A small voice in her head dared to suggest she´d like to be there for the punishment, as well. She defiantly ignored it in order to keep listening attentively.

"You seem to be perturbed at the news, my dear?"

"I, yes, ehm, no, Sir. After the Department of Mysteries Dolohov´s capture simply has personal meaning to me."

"Of course, dear, of course. Would you like a lemon drop?"

_What the f... No? _Hermione could see that her Head of House was non so subtly rolling her eyes next to her. Apparently Dumbledore´s strangely out of place offer wasn´t a one-time occurrence.

"Oh, no, thank you, Sir."

"Ah, well. Now, we went looking for you two and found many different, intertwined traces. I must say, Miss Granger, I was very impressed by your arrangements. I detected only your magic, so I assumed it was your doing to hide both yourself and Professor Snape behind this magical spiderweb?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Very impressive, Miss Granger."

The tall man at her right snorted, but kept quiet otherwise. He stood a little offside, leaning against a kind of stone pedestal with a silvery bowl on it. He appeared to be completely at ease, however, Hermione was certain, that he mainly used the stone contraption as means of keeping himself upright. The moment he registered her gaze on him he glared at her. He condescendingly mustered her from top till bottom, conveying just how impressive _he_ found her to be. It hurt, because it reminded her of how he had seen her naked form and made her feel cheap and somehow repulsive.

_Ungrateful bastard. _

His eyes turned murderous and his whole body tensed.

_Damn, he´s using Legilimency. Well, if you violate my thoughts, don´t complain about what you find there, Professor. _

His expression clearly showed that she had hit a nerve. She quickly looked away. He would get his retribution, she was sure of it. Seemingly oblivious to the whole interaction the Headmaster continued to address her.

"What we want to know, now, Miss Granger, is how you came to be down at the Lake after curfew in the first place."

"Although I am sure that you had a very good reason to be there, I must say that your being out after curfew is highly irregular", the Transfiguration teacher added.

_Alright, time to be a sensible adult and be seen as such. _"I concede that my decision to fully acquit myself to the assignment caused a moral dilemma. I can only say that I seriously weighed the benefits and dangers and was fully prepared to succeed in my endeavour. Of course, I knew that, strictly speaking, I wasn´t allowed to leave the school, but I did not use any of the treacherous paths or hidden passages. I knew they would be too dangerous. I left regularly through the front door, I can assure you. Neither did I endanger any of the other students or used liberties for any other goal then scholarly pursuits and–

"Hermione, why were you down there?" Arthur Weasley´s voice held so much concern that Hermione simply told him the truth.

"Because of Professor Snape."

"Ridiculous! It seems that now you are showing your true colours, witch. So desperate for fame that you even start sprouting highly irrational lies."

"No, Sir, I –"

"To actually believe that we would fall for that, ts ts."

The Order´s former spy pushed himself away from the stone pedestal and was closing in on her, a predatory gleam in his eyes.

"Sir, I –"

"Oh, please continue your little fairy tale. Don´t let me interrupt your imagination. So, you thought you needed to rescue your most hated teacher and decided to grandly sacrifice yourself, yes? Pray tell, how did you know I was going to be down there last night?"

"I –"

"Maybe Professor Trelawney was all wrong about you and you truly possess the Gift of Sight next to every other of your priced assets? Mmmhh?"

"Prof –"

He was now standing directly in front of her his hands gripping the arm rests of her chair on both sides of her, his face inches away from hers. He was smelling of toothpaste and an enticing blend of herbal and woody spices and something uniquely him her mind registered stupidly.

"Of course, there is another explanation, isn´t there? Maybe you did know beforehand? Maybe you aren´t lying after all and truly knew I was going to be put to trial down there? Care to show me your left arm, Miss Granger?"

"What?" Outrage was battling confusion and fear. "I´d never –"

"Hermione, no one believes –" interjected leaning towards her.

"Severus, shut up at once!" Professor McGonagall shouted jumping up from her seat.

"Minerva, Arthur, calm yourselves, please", the Headmaster placated.

Hermione had sunk back deeper into the seat. She wasn´t easily cowed anymore these days, but having three powerful witches and wizards, all of whom she respected mightily, leaning right over her in combative positions, was a tad bit frightening. Oblivious to the student´s discomfort the three adults remained locked in a heated staring match until their leader sighed exasperatingly, walked over from behind his desk and laid a hand on both Heads of Houses shoulders. Professor Snape immediately jerked away from the contact and stepped back. The Gryffindor Head of House blushed slightly, before straightening and taking her seat again, not, though, without muttering something unintelligible under her breath. Arthur nodded at Albus and resumed his post at Hermione´s side.

"Fine. Now, that we have all calmed down again, I´d like to ask you the same question as Professor Snape did, Hermione. It seems indeed far-fetched that you knew of his predicament beforehand."

"But, Sir, I never claimed I did", the young Gryffindor huffed angrily.

Another maliciously amused chuckle could be heard coming from the black-clad man. "Oh, really? Now Miss Granger has lost her immense powers of recall all of a sudden?"

The Headmaster simply raised one long finger indicating his wish to continue uninterrupted. "Miss Granger?"

Hermione was fed up with being treated like a child or a treacherous villain in quick succession. That´s what came from answering truthfully without further explanation. She would have thought at least Dumbledore would have been listening to what she had been saying. She stood up from her chair and walked past the Headmaster. Then she spun around and faced all four Order members at once.

"I never claimed to have any fore-knowledge of last night´s events and I resent being accused of such without any valid reasons. If you had listened to what I tried to tell you, you would have heard that I went down to the lake because of an _assignment. _An assignment set _by_ Professor Snape. Since you didn´t give me the chance to explain myself properly my answer was cut short."

"So now it is my fault that you went down there? How utterly predictable. I guess –"

"Stop, Sir! I am sorry to interrupt, but it´s my time to talk now. You have accused me of a serious crime, one that you know I would never commit. Actually you are the one man in this room who should know what it means to be labeled like this and I think it is my right to defend myself. When I said that I went to the Black Lake _because of _you I never intended to imply that you were responsible in any form. I went there, because of your last homework assignment. You lectured on how it was necessary to 'know thy enemy' as well as combative and defensive spells. You explained that it was pivotal to survival to understand the workings of groups such as the Death Eaters, to grasp their hierarchical structure and the ways power works within this system. You said that it was beneficial to learn about power and power structures in general. How leaders come to power at all, how they maintain their position and how in many ways the end justifies the means even in governmental circles. And yes, being _the most hated insufferable-know-it-all_ in your class I went to the Library for research and stumbled upon a very interesting book called 'Magic and Might - Leadership in magical races'. I scanned through it and decided to first focus on the chapter on Merpeople as they are the closest magical community to us, next to the House Elves and Centaurs. Reading about the ritual of how the Mermaid-chieftain is being elected, and when, I became aware of the next date of an election, which was yesterday evening."

At that the DADA teacher´s eyebrows rose and he hadn´t interrupted her again. So far so good.

"It was then that I decided to heed your _advice _to 'stop sprouting facts without any thinking of my own or any real experience' and go there myself. I prepared for a way out of the castle, for a way to breathe underwater and for finding my way. I had already applied the Bubble Head charm and was about to dive when you and the Death Eaters arrived at the Lake. You know what happened then."

His eyes narrowed the tall black-haired man apprised her anew. "So, you mean to tell us you broke several rules just to finish _my _homework assignment? And that you had to do it in order to fulfil it?"

"No, Sir."

"What then, you really should try to decide on how your story goes sometime. I am responsible, I am not. Then I am, then I am not. Difficulties with recall again, Miss Granger?"

"I wouldn´t have needed to do it, Professor, but –" At that she hesistated.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"It doesn´t matter, Sir. Can´t we just leave it at that?"

"No. Currently you are accusing me of having manipulated you into this utterly stupid mission of yours and I will _not _be made a fool of."

"No!"

"No what, witch?"

"No, I do not accuse you of having made me do it."

"You just said, that you went there because I told you to use your head or experience for once instead of just spitting out remembered facts. Did you go there because of me or not?"

"I, yes, yes I went because of what you said."

"I thought so. Headmaster, I resent being accused of causing this girl´s rule-breaking by teaching her to think for herself. I will not take responsibility for her rash actions. I will not be used as a fabricated accuse for disregarding the school rules. You really should have thought of a better cover-up story for your little escapade, Granger. No one inside this room would believe that even you were stupid enough to interpret my statement as a direct command or that I would willingly endanger any student like this, contrary to what you might believe."

Professor Snape sneered at her and started to turn around and walk out of the room in a quick stride. Something inside Hermione broke and she simply couldn´t let him leave with that thought planted in his head. How could he assume that she thought so little of him when it had been just the opposite that had made her act so irrationally? She hurried after him and even dared to grip his arm from behind. Quick as lightning he spun around and pushed her away. She stumbled and crashed to the floor. Tears of sharp pain flooded her eyes, but she bit back a whimper and stared up at him from the ground. Then she stood up again and gave him a shy and somewhat sad smile.

"Professor, you misunderstood. I, I went there because of you, yes, but not because I felt coerced into doing it. I would never think so lowly of you. I would never accuse you of having wanted to endanger me like this in any way! You have saved my life and that of Harry and Ron on more occasions then I can count and I am very grateful for that. I am sorry that it came across like that. I just wanted to do it right, just once, can´t you understand that?"

"I –what? What do you mean, do it right?"

"I just wanted you to approve of me just once, Sir."

"Approve of you?"

"I didn´t want to disappoint you again, Professor." And with that real tears were forming in the young witch´s eyes. Burning shame made her eyes drop from his gaze and focus on the floor instead. "And now I have done so, anyway, haven´t I? Gods, I am so, so sorry."

Staring at a crack in the stones beneath her feet Hermione Granger completely missed the look of utter bewilderment and surprised shock on Professor Severus Snape´s face.

**A/N: Well, that was chappie 6. I hope it lived up to your expectations. Please let me know. I could use some moral support right now and I would be very much relieved to hear you´ll forgive me for taking a hell of a lot longer for this and further updates because of that fickle friend called RL, who´s decided to be a right bitch to me at the moment.**


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